


In The Shadow Of The Family Tree

by asimaiyat



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Mild Angst, Sibling Bonding, alcohol use (light drinking), child neglect mentions, drug abuse mentions, mental illness mentions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-26
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-11 02:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7871227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asimaiyat/pseuds/asimaiyat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iris and Wally each grew up with half of the story of their family. It's time to start putting the two halves together. (written for the Flash Ladies' Month prompt "Iris West: family")</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Shadow Of The Family Tree

Clouds were moving fast past the moon as Iris leaned back and stared at the sky, bracing her weight on the heels of her hands. She’d carefully arranged her denim jacket between the grass and her butt, but her hands were pressing right into the cool, slightly damp earth. Next to her, Wally had done more or less the same thing, stretching out his flannel shirt on the ground before leaning back and resting on it, arms pillowed behind his head as he gazed at the moon and the trees.

“C’mon though,” Wally said after a long pause. “Tell me what it was like, growing up with him. Mom never talked about him much.”

This had been an unplanned stop on the walk home from Central City Drafthouse, where the West siblings had spent the evening bonding over the playoffs and a few too many beers. They’d just been walking by the fenced-off park when Iris had started laughing to herself, and explained to Wally how one summer as a kid she used to play t-ball at that park, until she’d begged to quit because it was so embarrassing how her dad would always argue with the coaches and referees. Wally had cracked up, and asked to see the park, but of course it was after hours and the gate in the fence was padlocked shut. Iris wasn’t sure whose idea it had been to climb the fence like wannabe rebellious teenagers, both laughing and shushing each other the whole time.

She looked over at her brother for a few moments, not sure where to start. Then she smiled fondly. “Like, protective. Very, very protective. I spent most of my teen years mad that I wasn’t allowed to do one thing or another. But at least I always knew he cared. When I was upset about anything he’d do whatever he could to make me feel better.”

“That sounds like Joe,” Wally said, something heavy in his voice. “He’s already trying to protect me like I’m his baby bear.”

“What about Mom?” Iris asked hesitantly, looking at the sky instead of at him. “I mean… if you want to talk about her.”

“I don’t mind talking about her if you don’t mind talking about our dad,” Wally replied. “Seems like we’re both missing half the story.”

“Yeah.” That was it, what Iris had been trying to put into words for a while now. She’d been reluctant to ask Wally about their mother, when it was obviously a painful subject, but ever since she’d found out that Francine hadn’t really died when she was little, that she’d had a whole life and even another child since then, it felt like dozens of questions were constantly nagging at her. “Yeah. It’s a deal.”

“Cool…” Wally muttered, watching the treetops sway in the wind and thinking for a few long moments. “You know… it was really on-and-off with her. Like when she was there, really _there_ , she was the sweetest person you’d ever meet. Sang songs while she made breakfast, read me stories when I was a kid, all of that. But then it was like she’d just fade away, sometimes for a week or so, sometimes longer. You know I think she was depressed, and the only thing she know how to do about it was get high. But it was rough, when she was like that. I had to take care of myself and her 'cause she wasn’t up to doing any of it.”

“I’m sorry,” Iris said, suddenly understanding a little better why her dad had hidden all this from her. It would have been a lot for a kid to handle. “That must have been so hard. I know you loved her through all of it.”

“Man, everybody loved her. She went to this church and every time I met anyone from there they’d talk about what a wonderful person she was and how much she loved me. Everyone knew she had problems, and they’d pray for us and bring food and stuff when she wasn’t doing well. So that was nice.” Wally paused. “What about you and Dad? Did you go to church?”

“Christmas and Easter,” she said with a chuckle. “Dad’s not religious, and I always thought it was pretty boring anyway. Honestly it was all about school. Dad was kind of obsessed with me getting a good education, so it was all extracurricular activities, college fairs, professional-quality book reports…”

“So you’re a whole family of nerds.” Wally laughed. “No, that’s cool. Does Joe like to read, though? I never see books around the house.”

“Oh, he’s got them all in his room, I swear to god he hoards them. He’s into war books, _All Quiet on the Western Front_ , _The Guns of August_ , that kind of thing. He used to take me to the library used book sale pretty much every weekend. What about Mom?”

“Poetry,” Wally said with a sigh. “She’d always tell me to read poems that she said were important to her. I never got them, though. Still don’t. Poets never just say what they mean, it gets old.”

“You know, same.” Iris nodded thoughtfully. “I always did well in English so I thought I might study literature in college. But I didn’t have any patience for all the metaphors and allegories and everything. I just wanted to know what happened. That was how I ended up studying journalism.”

“It’s funny how we have just random stuff in common. Like…”

“Like we ended up being a family even not knowing that each other existed.”

“Pretty much.” Wally shot her a lopsided smile. “Sucks that it took twenty-one years.”

“It definitely sucks,” Iris agreed. It sucked that she’d never really had a choice about her relationship with her mom or her brother, hadn’t even known they were alive. Maybe if she’d known about her mom, she would have at least been able to figure out all of the conflicting feelings she still had about her. Maybe she would have been able to forgive her before she died, but now she’d never know.

“So does Dad like fishing? I always thought if I had a dad he’d take me fishing,” Wally joked, like he was trying hard to lighten the mood.

“Yeah, actually. I have no idea why, it’s so boring. And then when Barry came to live with us Dad wanted to take him, but Barry was… more of an indoor kid.” They both laughed at that. “You know, you should go fishing with him. It’s not like it’s too late.”

“Yeah. I’ll ask him,” said Wally, and that time the cheer in his voice didn’t sound forced.

Iris could tell that it was hard for Wally to adjust to Joe being in his life, to start thinking of him as a father and Iris as a sister, but that at the same time it was something he really wanted. Maybe that was why it was so difficult to accept it. As the moon began to emerge from behind a cloud, it occurred to her that while she could never give her mother the second chance that she might have wanted to give, their family had nevertheless been given an opportunity to heal.

Balancing her weight on one hand, she reached the other over to squeeze Wally’s shoulder. “You really should. And you should help me back over the fence before one of us falls asleep out there.”

Wally rolled his eyes as he pulled himself up off the ground. “Aww. It’s a nice night, though.”

Iris shrugged her jacket back on even though it was a little wet and grass-stained. “It’s going to be a nice day tomorrow, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. <3 I love this family. If you liked it, come hang out on [tumblr](tumblr.com/reversetrash); I'm always accepting prompts and asks!


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